Norbu Sherpa did an excellent job highlighting the effects of global warming in the Khumbu region ('The heat is on,'#320). The social, economic, and ecological changes to the high Himal will be immense, and will ultimately affect the whole of Nepal, South Asia, and beyond.

Sherpa is right that many factors behind climate change are far away from Nepal, in North America and Europe. America tops the world league of polluters-its industrial base emits 20.6 percent of global emissions. It refuses to control this, mainly due to self-interest and the need to maintain industrial output to compete with China and India, Nepal's neighbours and new economic powerhouses.

But emissions from China and India together are already equal to those of the US. These Asian giants require vast amounts of power to drive forward their industrial expansion and keep their populations in employment. China puts one new coal-fired power station online every week, and the World Bank says that China now has 16 of the 20 dirtiest cities in the world due to the sulphur released when coal is burnt.

The Nepal government should consider that the population explosion, industrial expansion, and urbanisation in China and India are a recipe for disaster, from its snow-capped peaks all the way south.

Fergus Anderson,
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